Park Slope is
one of Brooklyn's most prized brownstone neighborhoods.
It is predominantly residential, characterized by
late 19th and early 20th century rowhouses with
architectural significance. The neighborhood is
home to one of the earliest and largest historic
districts in the city. The Park Slope Historic District
was established in 1973 and comprises 44 blocks
both within the rezoning area and to the north.
Approximately 20 percent of the rezoning area is
within the Historic District.

The rezoning area is currently zoned almost
entirely R6 (shown in yellow), with a small
area of R7A to the north on Fourth Avenue
and R8B on Bartel Pritchard Square in the
southeast corner of the study area. R6 is
a non-contextual, medium-density residential
district with a maximum Floor
Area Ratio (FAR) of 2.43. The contextual
R7A
and R8B zoning districts with FARs of
4.0 and height limits of 80' and 75', respectively,
were both mapped in the early 1990's.

Since the mid-1980s, developers in residential neighborhoods
have had the option of using a contextual building
form if their buildings provided certain amenities.
These alternate regulations (called the Quality
Housing Program) permit a maximum FAR of 2.2
and building height of 55' on narrow
streets in R6 districts, and, on wide streets,
a maximum FAR of 3.0 and a maximum building height
of 70'. This building on 2nd Street is an example
of recent construction that used the optional contextual
regulations.

2nd Street between
Fourth and Fifth Avenues

Fifth
Avenue and Seventh Avenue are the main neighborhood
commercial corridors. C1-3 and C2-3 commercial
overlays and a C4-3 commercial district are
consistent with existing uses. Buildings on
these streets are four to six stories tall
with ground floor commercial uses and residential
apartments on the upper floors. Some neighborhood
commercial uses are located in the southern
part of Eighth Avenue within a C1-3 commercial
overlay, and a few preexisting non-conforming
shops are on the northern side of Ninth Street
and on the northwestern corner of Bartel Pritchard
Square.

Fifth
Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets

Seventh
Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets

Third and Fourth Avenues are also lined with
commercial uses, many of them single-story,
auto-oriented uses. There are numerous underbuilt
and underutilized former warehouse sites,
particularly along Fourth Avenue.

The rezoning area includes a portion of
the M1-2 manufacturing district on the western
side of Fourth Avenue between 3rd and 7th
Streets. This area is dominated by large-scale
commercial uses, with auto-repair and community
facility uses intermixed.

Fourth Avenue
looking north from
6th Street

The other M1-2 district in the study area,
to the southwest between Third and Fourth
Avenues and 14th and 15th Streets, contains
only five lots with a total of 20,000 square
feet. This district is surrounded by an R6
residential zoning district and residential
uses. The lots are currently in mixed residential
and warehouse use.

Brief explanations of terms ingreen italicscan be viewed by
clicking on the term. Words and phrases followed by an asterisk (*) are defined terms in the Zoning Resolution, primarily in Section 12-10. Consult the Zoning Resolution for the official and legally binding definitions of these words and phrases.